INDIANAPOLIS -- Hundreds of convicted sex offenders could have their names and pictures removed from county lists after a state law was ruled unconstitutional.

In 1994, the Indiana Legislature created Zachary's Law, or the sex offender registry. Three years later, the Legislature amended the law to require all persons convicted of sex offenses to register.

But this September, the Indiana Supreme Court reaffirmed its own ruling that the law was unconstitutional because it required those convicted before the law was enacted to register.

On the advice of the state attorney general, the Marion County sheriff will now allow those required to register retroactively to have their names removed from the list, 6News' Jack Rinehart reported.

"We're not going to remove anybody. We're taking no enforcement action," said Lt. Bob Hanna, who oversees the Sheriffs' Sex and Violent Offender Registry. "As far as removing faces, names and addresses, we won't do that without a court order."

Sex offenders who registered retroactively can petition the court that held jurisdiction over their case to remove their names from the registry. They will then have to present that order to the local sheriff's department.

In Marion County, which currently has 3,606 registered offenders, more than 800 sex offenders would be eligible to have their names removed from the list.

Some neighborhood advocates oppose the idea.

"I have really big concerns about that," said Rachel Cooper, a longtime neighborhood activist, who lives in the city's southeast side. "This area is the biggest area in the city for sex offenders, and we're dealing with four or five living right next to our schools."

In the neighborhood where a 16-year-old girl said a man tried to abduct her near 11th and Olney streets early Monday, 12 men convicted of multiple sex offenses live within three blocks of the girl's bus stop, while 300 registered sex offenders live within two miles of the intersection.

Residents said they'll find a way around the law change.

"I think what you'll see is groups or agencies that will pop up and track these individuals that will try to take themselves off the list," said Bill Callahan of the Brookside Neighborhood Association. "There's nothing to stop people from getting public information about a person and creating their own list."

More Information: Indiana Sheriffs' Sex and Violent Offender Registry